“For a moment, she thought this was it. Her first kiss. Then he put his eye to the telescope again.”
Jimothy brought a flashlight, but Katasha had no trouble seeing in the moonlit dark. She stepped silently through the undergrowth. His progress was much more audible.
The tree she led him to was a gnarled old oak. Both ancient and gigantic, it stretched out and up, dominating its little piece of forest entirely. The twisty branches were perfect for climbing, and Katasha’s retractable claws gave her all the grip she needed. Jimothy had to place his paws more carefully, reaching for good pawholds. His blunt canine claws simply weren’t as effective as Katasha’s at being grappling hooks. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 16”
“Sitting there, among dogs, listening to a dog tell a story about a dog, she felt acutely aware of her felinity.”
While the others set up the final camp, Katasha tried to think of how to get away, back to the quiet moments she’d had alone with Jimothy, earlier on the hike. There weren’t many obvious chances though. Mirabelle had stepped in as the overall group leader from the moment she showed up, and she kept everyone busy in the camp, delegating various cooking and campfire building jobs. For, although there’d been no campfires up ’til now, Mirabelle felt they could get away with one big campfire on their last night.
After dinner was ready and the fire was roaring, the two groups sat around the campfire in a circle. They stared into the dancing flames and chomped down on improvised tacos, devised from all the leftover bits and pieces of trail food that each group had still been carrying. The tacos had been Mirabelle’s vision, and they were good. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 15”
“It was the next to last day of the backpacking trip, and Katasha could feel the weight of the school year approaching.”
The fifth day was a breeze. All their packs were lighter, since they’d eaten through more than half of their food and fresh water. Katasha’s spirits were also lighter, and she felt her tail swinging merrily as she hiked. She saw the dogs looking at each other as she pranced about the path, chattering at them about her plans for designing a space-probe that could descend from zero-gee space into the massy depths of Jupiter. Claire seemed interested in the engineering challenge of it. Mostly, though, Katasha could tell they were all startled by her change in attitude.
“Jimothy tried to claim it was a dog, but Katasha carefully molded the head to have pointed, feline ears. It was definitely a cat.”
Katasha waited until her Jack Russell companion was standing on solid ground, albeit still twenty paces or more beneath her. His triangular, flopped over ears were held alertly. The brown patch over one side of his face gave him a lopsided look. He must be listening for her, because he kept turning his head, incrementally, tilting it for better angles.
That meant he hadn’t seen her yet. Katasha imagined that her dark grey ears and gray striped face, barely peaking over the top of the rock, must have blended in pretty well. He clearly didn’t see the snowball coming. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 13”
“She scrambled nimbly from one protruding rock to the next, digging in her retractable claws to get good holds. She was able to move much more quickly here than Jimothy with his blunt canine claws…”
The second day of hiking was much the same as the first: hard work and drudgery, dragging one paw after another for hours on end. By the end of the day, however, the protein-pasta tasted pretty good. The group was getting more comfortable together, and the conversation at meal times flowed more easily.
When they finished the double batch of pasta they’d cooked up for that night’s dinner, Howell was still a little hungry, but he wasn’t sure if he should open another whole package of pasta. One comment led to another, and pretty soon Howell was boasting to the other three that he could eat a whole pound of protein-pasta all by himself. They made him eat his words. And the pasta! Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 12”
“She closed her eyes and, once again, dreamed about being a dog.”
The new students were all quite excited to visit the dining hall. Except for the few rare students who’d had a chance to visit Isleywood while deciding which college to attend, this was the first time any of them had been in the dining hall where they would be taking their meals everyday for the next year.
The upperclassmen assured the new students quite vociferously that the food wouldn’t usually be this good. Since there were so few of students on campus this early, the dining hall had ordered a bunch of take-out instead of bringing in the usual chefs for one night. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 11”
“She wondered if she was really making friends with a dog for the first time. The feeling was nice. She hoped it wouldn’t end.”
The Intro to Isleywood hiking groups were supposed to meet in the college recreation center at three in the afternoon, one week before fall quarter started.
Katasha stood on the nicely trimmed lawn in front of that squat, concrete building, preparing herself to go inside. She had her single duffel bag with a change of clothes and a rolled up sleeping bag slung over her shoulder. The registration materials said that everything else would be provided.
Katasha sucked the warm afternoon air through her teeth. She felt like she was only two twitches of a tail from fluffing out like a terrified porcupine. She knew Howell was in that building. She hadn’t talked to him in real time since that awkward conversation during finals week, though she still had a slightly rumpled copy of her digitally edited prom picture stuffed in her pocket. She now wished that she’d traded it for a copy of the picture with all her littermates in it. She wanted her freedom from them very much, but it was also lonely standing there, knowing that Dominic was already driving home. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 10”
“Katasha would have to function alone, like she had wanted to for so long. It was scary and wonderful.”
The end of Katasha’s high school career felt like a lingering death. Classes continued to assign homework and batter her with lectures even though she’d already completed all the credits she needed to impress Isleywood into accepting her. Classmates continued chattering and gossiping, acting as if their high school lives mattered even though they’d be gone from high school forever soon.
Corina, Dmitri, and Dominic were remarkably circumspect and understanding about the gossip Katasha had inspired by her passionate dancing with Howell at the prom. They let the comments fly right past them. It almost troubled Katasha how much they were okay with it. She got the sense that they saw her night with Howell as a passing phase. None of them seemed to realize how much she continued to think about him or how serious she was about breaking out of the invisible box that constrained most cats. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 9”
“Dominic shot Katasha a glance. He knew what his sister was getting at. Fortunately, Papa missed it.”
Katasha awoke the next morning to the smell of bacon and the sound of Howell talking to Papa downstairs. She could make out their voices but not their words.
“Makes you wonder what they’re talking about, doesn’t it?” Corina said, blinking owlishly from her bed, where she was still mostly under the covers. “I always feel weird when Papa talks to Erik, anyway.”
Katasha nodded. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to rush down and interrupt them or if she wanted to hide upstairs trying to listen in. Not that she could hear all that well. But, if Dominic or Dmitri were downstairs, or at least Mama, she might convince one of them to tell her about the conversation later.
On the other paw, the longer she hid upstairs in her warm, cozy bed, the less she’d get to see of Howell before he had to leave. Also, the more likely that her brothers would eat up all the bacon.
Katasha fretted for a minute over whether she should wear one of her favorite black tunics and be comfortable or whether she should try to be a little more colorful. Maybe wear a dark purple? Then she heard the front door open and swing shut with its characteristic slam. She froze, listening closely. She couldn’t hear Howell’s voice anymore, so she threw on the closest tunic — one of the black ones — and rushed for the stairs.
The front room was empty downstairs, so Katasha headed for the kitchen. She stepped quickly enough her claws scrabbled on the wooden floors.
“Good morning,” Papa said from the kitchen table. Dominic stood at the stove, heating a skillet of eggs. There were a few pieces of bacon left, but Howell was gone. He must have been the one that she’d heard leaving by the front door.
“Oh no,” she said, wondering if she could still catch Howell before he got in his car. Or maybe he’d merely gone out to get something? With a sinking sensation, Katasha heard the revving of an engine outside. She heard his car pull away. Her heart began to sink, though, she had to admit to herself that she hadn’t wanted to stumble awkwardly through talking to Howell in front of Papa. She wanted to go back in time to last night. Or forward in time three months.
“Katasha,” Papa said, looking serious and drawing her back to the actual minute she existed in right now. “That was a very nice young man.”
There was very little Papa could say that would vex Katasha more than missing out on seeing Howell off had. Even so, she wasn’t sure how she felt about her papa liking Howell. If it would get her out of her summer’s worth of penance, it was good. Otherwise, she was skeptical. He didn’t usually like dogs.
“Yes,” Katasha said, carefully. “I thought so. I didn’t expect him to leave so early. Did he say why he had to go?”
“He’s a college man,” Papa said, staring steadily at Katasha with his slightly crossed blue eyes. Papa was about as purebred Siamese as they came. “You don’t expect him to play with kittens all day, do you?”
The fur at the nape of Katasha’s neck bristled. She’d be a “college woman” herself in just a few months, and her papa still treated her like a kitten with her eyes closed. “He spent yesterday playing with kittens,” she said, angrily. Then, deflating, she added softly, “I can’t believe I have to wait all summer before I can go to Isleywood.”
Now all those questions Corina had pestered her with were starting to make sense. Would Howell be her boyfriend when she got to Isleywood? She didn’t know. They hadn’t talked about it. There hadn’t been time between the loud music, the chattering siblings, and all the dancing. But his arms around her last night… that must have meant ‘yes’?
Katasha helped herself to the remaining bacon and asked Dominic if she could have some of his omelet. He threw in a few more eggs.
Katasha joined Papa at the table with her plate of scavenged bacon.
“Howell said there’s a program for cats to start their first academic year at Isleywood a month early,” Papa said.
“Early?” Domnic asked, bringing two plates of omelet to the table. He slid one plate over to Katasha and sat down to devour the other himself. “Before summer’s over?”
“Right, it gives the cats a chance to know one and other before all the dogs get there,” Papa said. “Get their groundings. Get a head start. From what Howell was saying, it sounds like a good program.”
Katasha glowered. She liked the idea of leaving home and getting to Isleywood early, but she was a lot less crazy about the idea of being isolated there with only the other cats. “It’s just cats?” Katasha asked. She especially hated the implication that cats needed a head start to keep up at Isleywood.
“I assume there are some professors and upperclassmen as well,” Papa said, “to help orient the new students.”
Katasha brightened. “Is Howell one of the upperclassmen?”
Dominic shot Katasha a glance. He knew what his sister was getting at. Fortunately, Papa missed it.
“Actually, Howell said that he’d be leading a backpacking trip for new Isleywood students the week before school starts. So, no, I don’t think so.” Papa smiled. “Like I said, a fine young man. You do seem to have picked a good school, Katasha. It has lots of enrichment programs and bright, civic minded students if Howell is any example. Although, given how hard they’re working on increasing feline enrollment and retention rates, I have to wonder whether they’re really pursuing the right philosophy.”
“What do you mean?” Dominic asked around a mouthful of omelet. He reached surreptitiously towards Katasha’s plate where the last piece of bacon resided, but Katasha swatted his paw away.
“Well, sometimes,” Papa said, sounding terribly philosophical and pretentious, “when you have to work too hard at something, it means you’re working on the wrong thing.”
“Yeah, I get that idea,” Dominic said, staring Papa down. “But what’s the alternative? Let dogs dominate all the top positions in every field? Relegate cats to being second class citizens because they’re not as good at shouldering their way through canine social hierarchies as dogs are?”
Papa looked angry and then secretive. He mastered his feelings before speaking again. “Your Mama and I have been working inside the canine social hierarchy of society for all our lives. Eventually, you can’t conclude anything other than the structure itself is broken.”
Dominic blinked. “Okay… So… What? Revolution?”
“Mama loves her job,” Katasha said. Mama was a social worker who helped connect underprivileged felines with governmental and independent programs that could help them. “She always says that the two of you are making a real difference for cats.”
“Water through a sieve,” Papa said.
“Well, then, keep on bailing out water,” Dominic said, “If you can keep us afloat, Papa, then Katasha and I will go build you a better boat!”
“Or car and spaceship, respectively,” Katasha said. “As the case may be.”
Papa smiled, but grudgingly. His ears weren’t completely erect. “I suppose so,” he said. “In the meanwhile! I believe Mama’s told you,” he turned to face Katasha, “that I’ll be needing you to work in my office this summer.”
Inwardly Katasha groaned. Outwardly, she played the part of the dutiful daughter, accepting the role her papa assigned her. It would be a long summer.
“Suddenly, the lyrics didn’t sound cheesy anymore.”
Renee arrived at the last possible minute.
Dominic had already taken off with Florabella, Corina, and Erik in the Cherry Racer. Mama had told them all to have fun together and gone back inside. It was just Katasha and Dmitri waiting outside Howell’s car while the yellow lab dug around in the back seat, trying to rearrange the piles of textbooks and loose sheaves of paper to make space. Finally, he gave up, popped the trunk, and started stuffing all the college homework detritus in there. That’s when Katasha spotted Renee, a cream tabby, walking down the other side of the street toward them in a simple, short, black dress. Continue reading “In a Dog’s World – Chapter 7”
